Frank Carlson Library

Dana Sue might run the best little restaurant in Serenity, but when you're feeding a small town of neighbors, busybodies and best friends, things can get a bit hot in the kitchen. Never mind that sh's putting on too many pounds (an occupational hazard for a chef)-sh's worried about her too-skinny teenage daughter, Annie, who has been slowly starving herself since the loud, suitcase-tossing, name-calling fit on her front lawn that left Dana Sue minus...

"The chocolate went first, then the cheese, the fries, the ice cream. The bread was more difficult, but if she could just lose a little more weight, perhaps she would make the soloists' list. Perhaps if she were lighter, danced better, tried harder, she would be good enough. Perhaps if she just ran for one more mile, lost just one more pound. Anna Roux was a professional dancer who followed the man of her dreams from Paris to Missouri. There, alone...

"In the hospital where she is receiving treatment for anorexia, twelve-year-old Riley records her days in her journal--going to therapy, rediscovering her love of art, dealing with her rule-breaking roommate, and worrying about relapse once she returns home."--

Although almost totally consumed by her ballet training and her obsession with controlling her weight, thirteen-year-old Delia finds time to worry about her strange and rebellious older sister Pearl, who has been sent away to a private school.

Seventeen-year-old Kim, feeling the pressure of maintaining an A average to stay on her college gymnastics team, becomes obsessive about her weight and develops anorexia.

Discusses different eating disorders including bulimia, anorexia, and compulsive exercise. Also describes some of the warning signals and physical symptoms of each disorder and the recovery process.

Describes compulsive eating, bulimia, and anorexia and discusses the mixed messages given to women and girls about eating, weight, diet, and looks, and how these messages can be destructive.